TM Forum, a global trade association that focuses on the digital economy, has just announced the launch of the TM Forum API Zone, featuring a suite of REST-based APIs designed to provide management functionality for end-to-end digital services. These new digital services management APIs were tested and integrated into a variety of apps at the 2013 TM Forum Digital Disruption Conference.

The brand new TM Forum API Zone is part of the TM Forum Open Digital Program, a program that focuses on the digital economy and provides market intelligence and research, an open digital ecosystem, digital disruption conferences, and other tools for enterprises to manage complex digital services and achieve success in today's digital economy. Laurent Leboucher, Vice President of APIs and Digital Ecosystems at Orange, states for the press release that:

"Today, services are commonly delivered by several partner providers, all of whom need selection, orchestration, management and ultimately payment. Partnerships can be struck and dissolved in seconds, so real-time processing, accurate and secure information flow and agility are more important than ever. An online environment for digital services management APIs puts developers in the digital services driver seat by giving them the tools they need to connect to the biggest players in the digital ecosystem."

The API Zone provides API specifications, use cases, an Apigee powered console and features five REST-based APIs:

Product Ordering API - Provides a standardized mechanism for placing a product order and consists of a simple set of operations that interact with CRM/Order Negotiation systems. The API supports the ability to send requests to create a new product order and to query existing product orders.

Simple Management API - Provides the tools to create a single management interface for any service, independent of platforms, networks or other resource specific technologies.

Service Level Agreement API - Provides a standardized interface for creating and managing SLAs and SLA Violations. The API consists of a simple set of operations that promote the integration and interoperability among the various partners.

The APIs were used by developers at the 2013 Digital Disruption Hackathon to create over 25 apps. The winners of the hackathon include an app that allows users to make trades of physical and virtual goods with other people, a simple operational support systems (OSS) integration, an entertainment-focused app that integrates a digital service provider with a communication service provider, and an app that allows users to order everything they need to set up a new office in one stop. TM Forum Chief Strategy Officer, Nik Willetts, comments about the hackathon for the press release:

"TM Forum saw the potential to create an API ecosystem where healthcare, home security, energy, banking, automotive and communications providers can collaborate to enhance all aspects of our lives with services anywhere, anytime. At our first-ever hackathon, we proved that all of the APIs in our API Zone can simplify the addition of management capabilities for an app, which means that developers can focus on the money-making functions of building an app rather than on the management to support it—ultimately speeding the creation and delivery of digital services."

The TM Forum API Zone APIs are available to developers who are members of TM Forum or who work for companies that are members of the TM Forum. At the time of this writing, there are over 900 participating companies and more than 85,000 professionals. TM Forum includes digital service leaders such as Apigee, Cisco, IBM, Microsoft, Orange, Samsung, SAP AG, and many other technology companies.

For more information about the TM Forum API Zone and other TM Forum information, visit tmforum.org.

About the author:Janet Wagner
is a data journalist and full stack developer based in Toledo, Ohio. Her focus revolves around APIs, data visualization, machine learning, and data-driven journalism. Follow her on Twitter: @webcodepro, Google+, or send her an email.